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Sunday, March 16, 2014

The Broke-Ass Bride's Wedding Guide

In late 2013, Potter Style/Publishers sent me a copy of Dana LaRue's The Broke-Ass Bride's Wedding Guide to review. Dana is the creator of the very popular blog, The Broke-Ass Bride, which focuses on budget-friendly wedding planning. I've never had the pleasure of meeting Dana but I imagine she's pretty awesome.

(c) Hudson Valley Green

Right off the bat, I knew that I would like The Broke-Ass Bride's Wedding Guide because Dana had dedicated an entire chapter to "being green". But I'll get to that in a minute...

Overall, the book is an easy read. Dana is smart and funny which quickly becomes evident in her writing. And because it's meant to be a guide and not a novel, you can quickly scan the appropriate chapter for advice on say, invitations, and find an array of great ideas and recommendations.

The guide also provides interesting insight to what Dana calls the "Wedding Industrial Complex", the professional wedding planners, gown designers, venues, florists, etc. who are all about spending more money on your wedding. But as Dana points out, just because you've spent more money doesn't necessarily mean that you and your guests will have a better time at your event. Amen to that, sister.

Now back to the "Be Green, Save Green" chapter....

Basically, Dana sums up weddings in the first sentence of the chapter: Weddings have a big-ass impact on the environment. According to the guide, a wedding can generate 14.5 tons of carbon waste (in one day!)...that's about as much as you generate in an entire year. The biggest contributors to a wedding's carbon footprint is travel, waste (approximately 400 to 600 lbs of garbage!), fresh flowers, paper goods, and food. Dana offers some great tips to minimize your carbon footprint in one quick chapter.

The Broke-Ass Bride's Wedding Guide retails for $16.00 but I found it on Amazon.com for less than $9.00. An e-book version is also available for $7.99. I would absolutely recommend this book for newly engaged couples looking to not spend their entire life savings on a big party.

Many thanks to Dana for writing such a great guide and to Potter Style for sending me a copy!

Happy Planning,

LizzieRemember to like HVG on Facebook for updates and great tidbits of event planning information!